— 145 — 



^The Genitalia of the Group Noctiiidae of the Lepidoptera of the Bri- 

 tish Islands (1909), although it must be mentioned, that both authors 

 treat the possibility of a classification based on the g-enitalia with 

 reserve. I must absolutely agree with Dir. W. Petersen, who 

 in his paper „Zur Morphogenese der doppelten Bursa copulatrix bei 

 Schmetterlingen" i) warns us against attaching too much importance 

 to the genital organs in questions of relationship on a broader plane. 

 The present article deals with two species which have also a double 

 formation of the bursa copulatrix, thus showing some likeness with 

 Zygaena and Го/-^г/ж, but it would be preposterous to try to deduce there- 

 from a close relationship between so entirely ditïerent lepidopterous 

 groups. Nevertheless the structures of the genitalia, both male and 

 female, show features of their own in every different genus, which, in 

 consequence, are characters of high taxonomic value. These characters 

 should decidedly be taken into consideration by systematists and are 

 sure to prove, at least in many cases, more reliable than many of the 

 slight external modifications, to which so much attention was paid up 

 to the present time. 



\\\ our case we have doubtless to deal with very closely allied 

 species, and to illustrate the difterences I consider it best to compare 

 them taking as a starting point Sir Geo. H a m p s о n's descriptions 

 of the two genera, TelesiUa and C(iUi>(j(nnit: 



Telesllld (amethystine ) Cutloyonia (v/rgo) 



... palpi upturned, the 2-nd Joint ...palpi upturned, the 2-nd 



reaching to about vertex of head joint reaching vertex of head and 



and rather broadly fringed with moderately fringed with hair 



hair in fnmt, the 3-rd moderate; in front, the 3-rd moderate, por- 



rect; 

 . . . frons smooth: . . . frons smooth with tuft of 



hair; 

 ... antenna(> of male ciliatr'd; ... antennae of male laminate 



and almost simple; 

 ... build slendei-; 

 . . . a I »dornen with dorsal series . . abdomen without crests; 



of crests, the crest on 3-rd segment 

 large; 



... fore wing with the apex ... fore wing with the apex 



rounded, the termen evenly curved somewhat produced, the ternien 

 and hardly crenulate; evenly curved and not crenu- 



late; 

 All other characters are perfectly identical in both genera. 

 Now we s(^e that some of the characters are stated in rather 

 vague terms as: „reaching to about \'ertex", „i- a t h с i- 1)гоа(11у," oi- 

 „moderately fringed witli hair", „hardly crenulate" or „not cre- 



i) AUgem. Zeitsclir. f. Entomol., VI, 1901, p. 324. 



PyccK. Энтоы. 06o;ip. Г-ИМ), Av 1-2. ([ют. ИМИ) г.), 



11 



